Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-10-08

W IL .
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Before the statue
"Loolsl" ho went on, pointing to the statue
on which the moonlight played so brightly.
"Thou seest that angel woman who rests her
hand upon the forehead of the sleeping man;
and thou seest how at her touch his soul
flames up and shines out through his flesh,
even rs lamp ct the touch OF the fire; SO is
It with mo and thee, Nyleptha. Thou hast
awakened my soul and called 1t FORTH and
now, Nyleptha, it Is not mine, not mine, but
thine, and tEino only. There is no moro for
mo to say; in thy hands is my life.p And he
leaned back against the pedestal OF the
statue, looking very pale, and his eyes shin
ing, but proud and handsome as god.
Slowly, slowly she raised her head, and
fixed her wonderful eyes, all alight with the
greatness Of her passion, full upon his face,
as though to read his very soul. Then at last
sho spoke, low indeed, but clearly as silver
bell:
"Of truth, weak woman that am, d.
believe thee. III will be the day for thee, and
for mo also, IL it be my fate to learn that
have believed lie And now Learlsen unto
me, o man, who hath wandered here from far
TO steal my heart and make me ali Thru own.
put my hand upon thine hand thus, and
thus J, whose lips have never kissed before, do
Kiss thee on the brow; and now by my hand,
and by that first and holy kiss, ny, by my
peoples veal and by my throne that like
enough I shall lose for thee, by the name OF
my high house, by the sacred stone and by the
eternal majesty of the Sun, swear that for
A. Y 4 A.zI Il 4Ia4I
will love thee and thee only till death, ay,
and beyond-if, as thou sayest, there DO o be-
yond--and that thy will shall be my will, and
thy ways my ways.
"Oh, see, see, my lordi thou knowest not
how humble Is she who loves; 1, who am n
queen, kneel before thee; even ut thy feet
do my HOMAGE" and the lovely imprisoned
creature flung herself down en- her knees Oh
tho cold marble before him. And after that
I really do not know what happened, for
could stand it no longer, and cleared Off to
refresh myself with little Of old Umslopo-
gaas' society, leaving them to settle 1t their
own way, and very long time they were
about it.
Some three quarters OF an hour afterward
the "pair of doves" came strofiing toward us,
Curtis looking slightly silly, and Nylep.ha re-
marking calmly that the moonlight made
very pretty effects on the marble. Then, for
she was in most grarious mood, she took my
hand and said that was cher lords" dear
friend, and therefore most dear to her-not
word for my own sake, you see. Next she
lifted Umslopogaas' ak and examined itcuri-
ously, saying significantly as she did SO that
he might soon have cause to use it in defense
Of her.
After that she nodded prettily to US oil, and
casting one tender glance at her lover, glided
of into tho darkness like beautiful vision.
When we got back to our quarters, which
we did without accident, Curtis asked me,
jocularly, what was thinking about
II am wondering" / answered, "on what
principle it is arranged that some people
should find beautiful queens to fall in love
with them, while others find nobody at all,
or worse than nobody, and am also wonder
ing how many brave mems lives this nights
work will cost" 1t was rather nasty Of me,
perhaps but somehow ell the feelings do not
evaporate with age, and could not help be-
ing little JEALOUS Of my old friends luck.
Vanity, my sons, vanity of yanitiesl
On the following morning Good was in
formed OF tho happy occurrence, and posi-
lively rippled with smiles that, originating
oinewhero about the mouth, slowly Travelled
up his face like tho rings In duck pond,
till they flowed over tho brin of his eyeglass
and went wlierc sweet smiles go. Tho fact OF
tho matter, however, was that not only was
Good rejoiced about tho thing on its own
merits, but also for personal reasons. Ho
adored Sorais quite as earnestly Is Sir Eenry
adored Nyleptha, and his alteration had not
altogether prospered. Indeed. it had seemed
to him and to me also that the dark Cleopatra
like queen favored Curtis in her own curious
inscrutable way much moro than Good.
Therefore 1t was relief to him to learn that
his unconscious rival was permanently and
satisfactorily attached in another direction.
His face fell little, however, when he was
told that the whole thing was to be kept as
secret as the dead, above all from Sorais for
the present, inasmuch as the political conv IL
sion which would follow such an announce
ment at the moment would be altogether too
great to face, and would very possibly, il
premnturely made, shake Nyleptha from her
throne.
That n orning we again attended In tho
throne hail, and could not help smiling to
ulyselt WHeu WDElpareu tns VIslt 10 our last,
and rejecting that IL the walls could speak
they would have strange tales to tell
What actresses women arsl There, high
upon her golden throne, draped in her bla-
zoned 'kaf" or robe of state, sat the fair Ny
leptha; and when Sir Henry came in little
late, dressed in the full uniform Of an officer
of her guard, and humbly bent himself be-
fore her, she merely acknowledged his salute
with. q careless nod and turned her head
ooldly inside. u was very large court, for
not only did the ceremony Of the signing Of
the laws attra.t many outside OF those whose
duty It was 10 attend, but also the rumor
that Nasta WAS going to publicly ask the
hand Of NylspthA in marriage bad gone
abroad, with the result that tie great hall
was crowded 10 its utmost capacity. There
were our friends the priests in force, headed
by Agon, who regarded us with vindictive
eye; and a most imposing band they were,
wi b their long white embroidered robes grit
with q golden chain from which hung the
fshlilxe scales There, too. were number of
sss lords, each with band Of brilliantly
shired attendants. and prominent among
tism was Nesi., stxoking his black beard
nss.:.stiTs.J ard looking unusually unpleas-
ant 1t wzs . splendid and impressive sight, /